An official announcement published on April 29, 2019, has revealed that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has temporarily suspended the trading of shares in Bitcoin Generation (BTGN), a b…
The latest edition of “Targeting scams,” an annual report released by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) revealed that the country saw a 190 percent increase in cryptocurrency scams, with a…
New York-based online brokerage firm E-Trade Financial Corp. has plans to launch trading services for digital assets, Bloomberg reports. Bitcoin and ether will be the first assets to be supported by E-Trade’s cry…
Telecom giant Samsung has invested 2.6 million euros ($2.9 million) into crypto wallet manufacturer Ledger, the French financial publication Capital reports. The investment gives the France-based startup a nearly $290 million valuation, per the report.
The news came shortly after CoinDesk Korea reported that Samsung is developing a blockchain platform and native digital asset of its own. The project, which is being conducted by the South Korean tech giant’s blockchain division, is reportedly based on Ethereum’s network and the resulting cryptocurrency is dubbed “Samsung Coin.”
CoinDesk Korea cited an anonymous source who said, “We expect Samsung Coin to come out in the market, but the direction has not yet been decided.”
This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.
Cryptocurrency trading and lending firm Genesis Capital released a “Digital Asset Lending Snapshot” for Q1 2019, indicating that it originated $425 million for the period. According to its report, the firm has or…
Sensing a rise in crypto-related scams and fraudulent investment schemes, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have issued a joint warning to inves…
In what the Manhattan District Attorney calls the first crypto money laundering conviction in New York, two defendants have pleaded guilty to running a drug trafficking business that laundered millions of dollars…
According to a report from Fortune on April 23, 2019, the U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase will shut down its Chicago office.
Coinbase will scale back plans for a high-frequency trade matching engine in development there, software that automatically matches trade bids to complete trades at a higher rate. The exchange will also lay off about 30 engineers and transfer others to its San Francisco office.
An unnamed Coinbase spokesperson told Fortune that the closure was due to a change in the company’s focus and that the exchange will instead work on growing its custody and over-the-counter trading services.
Coinbase launched its Chicago office in May 2018, as a hub for the team working on Coinbase Markets, its electronic marketplace of liquidity and participants. At the time, the exchange noted that the office would provide the company with a vast pool of highly experienced and skilled engineers who would help improve service offerings.
The team was led by Derek Groothius, a former software engineer at DRM, and Paul Bauerschmidt, who previously worked as an executive at CME Group, according to additional reports about the closure. In light of the recent development, both men are leaving the company.
The move could also be a bid for Coinbase to improve profitability. On April 18, 2019, Reuters reported that the exchange managed to rake in $520 million in revenue for 2018, a figure that was 60 percent less than analysts had predicted.
Estimates by news platform The Block revealed that salaries of the engineers working on the trade matching engine were as high as $6 million annually, not to mention the technological costs, office space, staff bonuses and other administrative outlays.
This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.
Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) is looking into two major cryptocurrency exchange platforms as part of an investigation.
According to a report published by Reuters Japan on April 23, 2019, the investigation by the financial watchdog is connected to the legal compliance and customer protection standards of trading platforms Fisco Digital Asset Group (FDAG) and Huobi Japan, the Japanese subsidiary of Huobi Global.
FDAG recently acquired the crypto exchange Zaif, which was hacked last year, from Tech Bureau for $44.7 million. Huobi Global, meanwhile, expanded into Japan through the acquisition of the regulated exchange BitTrade.
Citing anonymous sources close to the companies, the Reuters report claims that the FSA’s inspectors primarily examined the companies’ internal oversight while also suggesting that there are certain insufficiencies in “the management systems of the two companies and their efforts to protect customers.”
Earlier this year, Huobi Korea, the South Korean subsidiary of Huobi Global, announced that it would be strengthening its anti-money laundering protection standards.
The firm’s focus was on its fiat-to-crypto oversight measures, as well as the processes for withdrawals and deposits on its platforms. It resolved that it will keep close tabs on all transactions that it deems suspicious. In addition, the exchange highlighted its commitment to provide periodic updates to its fraud-detection algorithms.
This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.
Joel Ortiz, the 21-year-old student who was accused of stealing over $7.5 million in digital assets via a SIM swapping operation, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison. He had pleaded guilty in February and ac…
Crypto payment startup Moon has announced an online web browser extension that allows crypto users to make purchases on e-commerce sites like Amazon.com with Lightning Network payments, CoinDesk reported.
Once the extension has been added to a user’s browser, they will be prompted to register and integrate it with a Lightning-enabled wallet.
It should be pointed out that Amazon itself doesn’t accept bitcoin. Rather, the process begins with the user paying with crypto assets followed by a payment processor converting the assets into fiat currency and settling with the merchant.
At checkout, the Moon extension provides a typical QR code with the invoice for payments. Once payment is completed, the user should be redirected to Amazon’s Success Page. Moon is available in the Chrome Web Store but its Lightning Network feature is under review.
This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.
Aleksandr Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, met with the country’s IT community to discuss the growth of its native tech industry, according to the state-owned national news agency, the Belarusian Telegraph A…
Gibraltar Blockchain Exchange (GBX) has appointed in-house Head of Business Development Kurt Looyens, as its new CEO.Looyens formerly held the position of Country Executive at ABN AMRO Bank in Spain, and he will …
Global payment processing platform PayPal has been awarded a patent for a technique that can help with the timely detection and reduction of ransomware attacks. Ransomware attacks are a form of malware that takes over the victim’s computer, locks up the files therein and demands a ransom before the files can be accessed again — often to be paid in cryptocurrency.
“Frequently, the malicious party will demand that the user pay him some amount of anonymous crypto-currency (e.g., BitCoin) in order to have the user’s files decrypted so that they are accessible again,” per the description of PayPal’s patent, which was filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office almost three years ago and was awarded on April 16, 2019. “If the user does not pay, then the files may remain encrypted and inaccessible.”
The patent details how the company, and by extension computer users, can detect and prevent ransomware from locking up certain files with the use of existing system data.
The technique will distinguish between two pieces of content loaded in the cache of a computer system, comparing the two to determine if a version has been altered and encrypted. If this is found to be true, the version that is yet to be altered will be prevented from being deleted by the ransomware. Essentially, it will see to it that the original content is still accessible, even if the ransomware has affected the altered version.
“By detecting that ransomware is operating on a computer (e.g., by correlating between the original data and content in different cache layers), the negative effects of the ransomware may be mitigated or avoided,” according to the patent abstract.
Ransomware attacks have become increasingly frequent with devastating effects. The inability to access valuable data is particularly detrimental to large companies.
A report from RT noted the steps that major corporations have been taking to prepare for the occurrence of ransomware attacks. Attackers have been known to demand bitcoin payments in exchange for the release of their locked data due to the perceived anonymous nature of crypto transactions. RT reported that, due to this trend, companies have been silently piling up BTC to ensure that they can make these payments in the event of a ransomware attacks.
This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.
Crypto exchange platform Coinbase has announced that it will be expanding its crypto-to-crypto trading service to more countries.In the announcement, Coinbase explains that cryptocurrencies are in a transition pe…
RIF Labs has announced the integration of its public blockchain, RSK Smart Contracts, on Microsoft’s Azure Marketplace. The RSK Smart Contract Network is an open-source platform that seeks to extend the functionality of Bitcoin using smart contracts and the Azure Marketplace is an app store for Microsoft’s cloud computing service.
Prior to the integration, RIF Labs customers had to deploy local servers while manually setting up and maintaining nodes for running the blockchain. With the addition of RSK Smart Contracts on the marketplace, users can have an RSK blockchain network set up in minutes via Azure.
Adrian Eidelman, RSK strategist and RIF Labs CTO, believes the integration with Microsoft’s marketplace allows DApp developers to keep their focus on the product development now that node deployment has been settled.
“DApp developers can now focus on building their product, since they don’t have to worry anymore about spending hours in setting up and maintaining the node,” Eidelman explained in a company statement shared with Bitcoin Magazine. “Microsoft’s support will be key to accelerate adoption of RSK technologies and the Bitcoin ecosystem.”
RSK Smart Contracts is the latest public blockchain to be supported by the Azure Marketplace.
Sajan Parihar, director of Microsoft Azure, explained why the Azure marketplace is so pivotal for developers.
“Through Microsoft Azure Marketplace, customers around the world can easily find, buy, and deploy partner solutions they can trust, all certified and optimized to run on Azure,” Parihar said in the statement. “We’re happy to welcome RSK Smart Contracts to the growing Azure Marketplace ecosystem.”
RIF Labs’ integration with Microsoft will also prove crucial for the blockchain startup in the future, as it gets set to launch new protocol implementations for its RIF OS. The increased ease of setting up nodes will provide an opportunity to expand the RSK network for far less cost and storage space rental on the nodes themselves could provide the opportunity for developers to earn mining rewards.
In 2018, RSK Labs was acquired by RIF Labs, an acquisition that saw the smart contract platform expand beyond Bitcoin’s blockchain.
This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.
U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has delisted Bitcoin SV (BSV), per an official announcement on its blog.In the announcement, the exchange noted that the digital asset had exhibited behavior opposite to …
Per an official announcement, the cryptocurrency exchange Gemini Trust has confirmed full integration of Segregated Witness (SegWit) addresses to its wallet infrastructure. Gemini hopes its users will benefit fro…
Last month, the South Korean exchange Bithumb lost about $13 million worth of cryptocurrency to hackers. While it initially appeared unlikely that the funds would ever be recovered, a recent police raid conducted…
Major U.S.-based crypto platform Coinbase has launched the Coinbase Card, a debit card that lets U.K. customers make purchases online and in-store using cryptocurrency.
The new card will link the customers’ crypto balances held on the Coinbase platform with their debit cards — converting crypto holdings into fiat currencies to complete each transaction.
The Coinbase card gives users the ability to make payments via “contactless, Chip and PIN, as well as cash withdrawals from ATMs,” an official press release from the exchange states.
The debit cards will be issued by Paysafe Financial Services Limited, a U.K.-based financial services firm regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Per the release, the Coinbase Card can be used by users irrespective of the token in their portfolio.
“Coinbase Card supports all crypto assets available to buy and sell on the Coinbase platform, meaning they can pay for a meal with bitcoin, or use ethereum to fund their train ticket home,” the company notes.
In an interview with The Next Web, CEO of Coinbase U.K. Zeeshan Feroz said the debit card would have a maximum daily spend of £10,000 (~$13,000 USD) and withdrawal limit of £500 (~$650). Each transaction will be subject to a 2.49 percent fee. Local ATM withdrawals of up to £200 ($260) per month will be free; while higher amounts would be subject to a 1 percent charge.
Coinbase also announced the launch of the Coinbase Card App in the release. The Card App is an expense management app for iOS and Android-based devices. The app allows customers to choose the specific crypto wallet to fund purchases made with the Coinbase Card.
It will also provide U.K. users access to transaction records and summaries, receipts on purchases, spending categories and more.
For now, the Coinbase Debit Card is only available to clients in the United Kingdom. However, the exchange confirmed in the blog post that they would be supporting other European countries “within the coming months.”
This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.
Bittrex, a United States–based cryptocurrency exchange platform, has issued a response to the recent setback in its plans to expand to New York.
Yesterday, the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) rejected the exchange’s BitLicense application, a requirement for offering crypto-based services to New Yorkers.
NYDFS also published a letter addressed to Bittrex CEO Bill Shihara, where it cited inadequate Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Know-Your-Customer (KYC) and Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) standards as reasons for its denial.
Bittrex had applied for the permit in August 2015 and had been operating in New York under BitLicense’s safe harbor provision while awaiting approval to be a licensed bitcoin service provider in the state.
In its official response to the agency, Bittrex expressed its disappointment at this setback, disagreeing with the state regulator’s assessment of its AML and KYC standards.
“Bittrex is saddened and disappointed in today’s decision by the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), which we believe harms rather than protects New York customers. Bittrex fully disputes the findings of the NYDFS in today’s decision. We have worked diligently with NYDFS to address their questions and meet their requirements since first applying for our BitLicense in August of 2015.”
The U.S.-based exchange stated that it maintains a risk assessment framework that has been evaluated and approved by an external counsel, and it trains employees on its AML procedures and policies.
Bittrex also pointed out that all Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs) — a list of individuals and companies monitored by the U.S. government — are properly screened whenever a new account is opened, in line with the policies of the OFAC.
The exchange faulted the terms of a supervisory agreement that was proposed by the state regulator back in January, which would have resulted in the issuance of the permit to the firm. The exchange had rejected the agreement based on issues it had with the requirements.
Among other things, the agreement had capitalization requirements that were significantly higher than was required in other states. Per the post, the agency’s capital requirements were “based upon a pre-existing formula of hot wallet v. cold wallet storage” that didn’t consider the diverse range of cryptos listed on Bittrex and the “risks of frequently moving assets from hot to cold storage.”
This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.
Another digital asset platform has received approval to do business in New York.
Bitstamp, one of the largest crypto exchange platforms in Europe, has been granted a virtual currency license from the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYSDFS). The exchange became the 19th firm approved to offer crypto-based services in the world’s financial center.
The regulator announced in a press release published on April 9, 2019, that it had granted Bitstamp full authorization to run its digital currency operations in New York. Bitstamp applied for BitLicense through its U.S. subsidiary.
“Bitstamp has always embraced regulatory efforts that focus on transparency and accountability to help expand the industry and bridge the gap between the traditional financial and cryptocurrency worlds,” Nejc Kodrič, CEO of Bitstamp, said in the release.
With this license, Bitstamp will be able to offer New Yorkers trading options for bitcoin, XRP, ether, bitcoin cash and litecoin through its services. In addition, the exchange is also free to add trading pairs for other digital assets in the future.
NYSDFS established the BitLicense to provide the same level of security to crypto investors as the ones that oversee conventional financial institutions.
Bitstamp USA joins notable financial and crypto service providers such as Square, Coinbase, bitFlyer USA, Circle Internet Financial, XRP II and other crypto companies in the exclusive “BitLicense Club.”
This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.
Bitfinex is now open to every trader as the Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange has removed its $10,000 minimum balance rule.
Citing a rising demand from retail traders who couldn’t trade on the platform due to the requirement, Bitfinex CEO Jean-Louis van der Velde said the platform is now ready for a “new wave of customer accounts,” according to a company Medium post.
“We simply could not ignore the increasing level of requests for access to trade on Bitfinex from a wider cohort than our traditional customer base,” van der Velde added, per the post. “For the last six months, we have been working hard to ready our platform for a new wave of customer accounts and are now in a position to open Bitfinex to a wider audience.”
The minimum threshold requirement was introduced in 2017 during Bitcoin’s bullish run as a measure to stymie the inflow of new sign ups. Last year, it announced an equity requirement in which traders were required to deposit $10,000 minimum in crypto or fiat before they could trade on the platform. Once activated, the client’s equity could drop below the required threshold without them losing access to the platform.
Per the Medium post, the exchange has upgraded its infrastructure with “dedicated servers with premium hardware for advanced security and lowest latency” as it gets ready to welcome a broader user base.
The company also redesigned its support center for faster resolution to queries and developed a new know-your-customer (KYC) portal. Going forward, Bitfinex aims to provide education to users around the available tokens on its platform.
This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.
Crypto wallet provider Coins.ph has partnered with U.S. financial service company Western Union to enhance cross-border transfers to the Philippines.The partnership will grant over 5 million Coins.ph users access…
China’s state planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), has indicated an interest in banning cryptocurrency mining in the country through a notice published online in Mandarin.
The report stated that the NDRC will include cryptocurrency mining activities to a list of sectors that could be shut down based on their violation of local regulations, wastefulness, safety concerns or harmful contributions to the environment. The list includes more than 400 other industrial activities.
The list is part of the NDRC’s Catalogue for Guiding Industry Restructuring. The catalogue was issued in 2005, pointing out the activities and industries which are allowed to grow in the country or those that ought to be restricted or banned outright.
Reuters reported that the draft list has been open for public perusal since April 8, 2019, although the NDRC has not yet set a date for the elimination of cryptomining activities from the state. The draft list shows a distinct representation of the Chinese state’s views on certain industrial policies and activities, and an announcement on the NDRC’s official site claims that members of the general public now have until May 7 to provide their comments on the draft.
China was once seen as a crypto haven, thanks to the country’s abundance of mining hardware and cheap energy. But developments like this make it seem as if the country has grown cold toward industry.
Despite a blanket ban on ICOs in 2017, China has maintained dominance in the cryptomining sector, with some of the world’s biggest mining companies operating from China — most notably, Bitmain. The recent notice by the NDRC has been a long time coming.
Late last year, the Xinhua News Agency reported that a study showed the impact of carbon dioxide emissions on global warming and their potential to increase temperatures by 2ºC as soon as 2033.
A separate report also claimed that authorities had seized hundreds of mining computers, after discovering they were responsible for the abnormal electricity consumption and a potential threat to the proper functioning of local power grids.
In addition, the Leading Group of Internet Financial Risks Remediation called on local governments to direct mining companies to make an “orderly exit” from the market.
The Chinese government has been making massive moves to stem the growth of crypto-based firms in the country for a while. The People’s Bank of China made the historic decision to place a ban on all ICOs back in 2017 and, since then, crypto companies have had to walk on regulatory eggshells.
In January 2018, a report on Bloomberg revealed that the Chinese Central Bank seemed to plan a reduction of the power supplied to bitcoin miners, in a move aimed at forcing them out of the country.
The Beijing-based Bitmain remains one of the largest manufacturers of cryptomining hardware in the world. However, the company has had to endure a torrid two years after its profits and viability were hit hard by the effects of crypto winter.
If this reported ban is enacted, it would mean that Bitmain could lose its business in China, one of its largest markets. This may prompt the company to relocate its business, something that could be difficult given its recent office closures in North America and Europe.
This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.
As part of an ongoing criminal case, a judge in Canada has ordered that a local online drug dealer must forfeit about 281.41 bitcoin (worth about $1.4 million) after it was found that he used the cryptocurrency t…
The crypto payment platform Bitrefill has announced an upgrade to its Thor service.
The upgrade is dubbed “Thor Turbo,” and its expected to speed up the process of connecting to Bitrefill’s Lightning node, according to a press release sent to Bitcoin Magazine.
Bitrefill launched the Thor service in January 2019 as an on-demand Lightning channel service that allows users to receive payments whether they have bitcoin loaded into their Lightning wallets or not.
Speaking with Bitcoin Magazine via email, Bitrefill COO John Carvalho said that, since Thor launched, the startup has opened hundreds of Lightning channels with customers and hopes to soon reach the thousands.
But, with the original version of Thor, it takes roughly “six confirmations before a new Lightning channel is usable” and roughly 60 minutes of waiting time, according to the release. With Thor Turbo, Bitrefill expects the process to go much faster. The startup claimed that users can “instantly hop onto the network and make purchases from anywhere in the world without delay.”
Beyond the time savings, Thor Turbo users can also choose to have their channel pre-loaded with a spendable bitcoin balance. For those who don’t have Bitcoin in their wallets, Thor Turbo has a feature that converts other cryptocurrencies into spendable bitcoin on the Lightning Network. Currently, it supports ether, dash, litecoin and dogecoin conversions.
Per the release, Thor Turbo will be an optional upgrade to users and Bitrefill will continue to provide support for non-Turbo Thor channels. Carvalho said Turbo channels would cost as much as non-Turbo channels but that the fees for the original Thor service have been reduced.
Adoption of the Lightning Network has grown tremendously since it was first introduced. As of press time, the network supports a total of 7,816 nodes with a collective network capacity of 1,076.03 BTC (worth about $5.35 million).
“We’re aiming to release several more Lightning-based services this year, demonstrating how businesses can make money and support Bitcoin infrastructure at the same time,” Carvalho concluded.
This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.
A new report by the software firm DataLight predicted that Bitcoin could become the world’s top payment system within the next decade if it maintains its current growth rate.“In just 10 years, Bitcoin has managed…
In an official blog post published on April 4, 2019, the Viennese cryptocurrency brokerage platform Bitpanda confirmed that it has received a license to operate as a payment service provider in Austria.Specifical…
The Tokyo-based cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck has launched a Bitcoin over-the-counter (OTC) trading service for its users, per a post published on its official blog.The platform’s OTC trading desk will serve …
Cryptomining manufacturer Bitmain has revealed the release date for its next-generation Antminer S17 series. The S17 set of miners includes the Antminer S17 Pro, Antminer S17 and the Antminer T17.The Antminer S17…
Malta-based cryptocurrency exchange Zebpay now supports Lightning payments. The exchange announced the news via a blog post, where it claims to be the “first major exchange” to enable Lightning payments for its users.
Per the report, Zebpay users can now login into their wallet and use their bitcoin balances to make micro-purchases for free.
“Making Bitcoin technology widely accessible is a key component of our roadmap. Today, with the integration of the Lightning Network, we have taken yet another step in this direction,” Zebpay’s CEO Ajeet Khurana explained in the release.
Zebpay believes Lightning payments can drive widespread adoption of bitcoin across the globe by making it easier to make payments for goods and services without fees.
The post reads:
“Zebpay would bear the transaction cost for all lightning transactions done from its wallet and continue to evangelize this technology.”
To start using Lightning, Zebpay users have to sign into their wallets and enable the Lightning tab. Lightning payments on Zebpay will work in quick, easy steps that involve either scanning or pasting the product’s invoice into the wallet to effect payment.
Lightning payments through Zebpay are currently limited to 10 transactions a day for a total value of 0.002 Bitcoin (roughly $8 at current price). Khurana, however, believes the amount gets the job done for most purchases. In an email interview with Bitcoin Magazine, he said the exchange “found that most Lightning stores can be served with this limit. There is no reason why Zebpay won’t keep revising and improving this based on how the ecosystem/tech grows. In fact, right after the first day of going live, we (Zebpay) doubled their limits.”
Lightning payments are available for users on both the Android and iOs app. Earlier this year, Zebpay expanded its presence in Europe, opening offices in Spain, Slovakia, Romania, Lithuania and Liechtenstein.
This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.
The Finland-based, peer-to-peer cryptocurrency trading platform LocalBitcoins released a statement on March 25, 2019, responding to a new act approved by the Finnish Parliament that will require users to verify t…
The Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange DragonEx has announced a security breach to its users via its official Telegram channel. In the message, a company administrator revealed that the hackers stole assets …
Samourai Wallet announced this month that its latest update supports Tor integration, offering additional privacy for users.What Does Tor Integration Enable?In a conversation with Bitcoin Magazine, Samourai’s lea…
Earlier this month, blockchain startup Blockstream announced that its satellite messaging application programming interface (API) was launching on Bitcoin’s mainnet. Now, one enterprising bitcoiner has used this platform to beam the U.K.’s proposed Brexit deal into space.
The application allows users to beam data into space, which can be downloaded by anyone with the appropriate receiver. Users can pay for the service using the Lightning Network.
In a post published on crypto review platform How to Buy Crypto, crypto researcher Richard Gargan provided a description of his experience with Blockstream’s satellite application and how he used it to beam the full text of British Prime Minister Theresa May’s proposed EU withdrawal agreement into space. He followed the manual process (detailed here) of transmitting data to the blockchain.
In the post, Gargan explained that he first converted May’s proposed agreement into a .txt file. From there, he split the file (which had a size of roughly 820 kb) into 82 separate pieces of 10 kb each. (He had to divide the file this way because the satellite’s transmission limit is 10 kb.)
Gargan then uploaded the files one at a time. He reported having to pay 0.00000604800 BTC for a single file — the fees for sending the file plus an additional fee for using the Lightning Network.
Gargan ended up spending a total of 0.000495936 BTC (worth about £1.49 or $1.96) to transmit the full document to the blockchain. Long story short, Theresa May’s Brexit Withdrawal Agreement is now in space and since it’s not encrypted, anyone with the right equipment or setup can download it. It took him 1.5 hours to upload the whole document.
His method, while simple and straightforward enough, shows that there’s still a fairly constrained limitation on file sizes that Blockstream could improve on.
“It was a very laborious and tedious process, as clearly it’s designed to send short messages,” Gargan told Bitcoin Magazine via email.
Gargan reached out to Blockstream through Internet Relay Chat to inquire about the reasoning behind the 10 kb file size limit. Blockstream responded that the file size is “currently limited so that other transmissions do not become backlogged.”
Blockstream CTO Adam Back told Bitcoin Magazine that the current file size limit exists because “the current implementation is serialised and only streams one message at a time, so in order to provide [a] timely message service to many users, we currently implement that with a message limit. (Otherwise one person could pay to send a very large message and then other users would not be able to send for some time.)”
The team at Blockstream has reason to believe that there may be some backlog on its service.
“We have received quite a bit of interest in using the satellite APIs for various application and Bitcoin-related use cases,” Back added. “We plan to increase the available bandwidth based on demand by reinvesting the revenue to provide faster service.”
While this use case is revolutionary for the industry, it demonstrates an area in which more work could be done, particularly in the process of encoding data and breaking it into smaller chunks before transmitting it. This process will invariably make it difficult to send content that loses its quality when broken into smaller chunks.
Back said that Blockstream is continuing to improve the flexibility of its satellite data APIs and is expecting to have more flexible stream capability in future upgrades.
“It would also be possible with the existing satellite messaging API for application programmers to make a utility to fragment and reassemble [the content], or even stream low- to medium-bandwidth content,” he said.
Part of the motivation behind Blockstream’s satellite service was to provide a means of reducing the Bitcoin network’s dependency on conventional internet connectivity. It works by allowing users to broadcast data all over the world via the Bitcoin network, while ensuring security and accessibility.
Blockstream launched its satellite service in 2017 with a focus on transmitting messages to receivers in Europe, Africa and the Americas. It later expanded to Asia and added support for Lightning payments.
This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.
Earlier this month, the Bank of Mexico (Banxico) published a circular, wherein it laid out its plan to issue permits to bitcoin exchange platforms and other crypto-related businesses operating in the country.Banx…
Japanese regulators have reportedly approved draft amendments to the country’s financial instruments and payment services laws, introducing stricter regulations for margin trading of digital assets.
A report by local news publication Nikkei Asia Review noted that the amendments will place a cap on available leverage for crypto margin trading, pegging it at two to four times the initial deposit.
The report, published yesterday, also claimed that all cryptocurrency exchanges that offer margin trading will have to register with Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) within 18 months of the new rules being implemented in April 2020.
Margin trading is the use of borrowed funds (often obtained from a financial broker or an exchange) to trade a financial asset. The funds borrowed become collateral for the loan, upon which interest is paid.
The practice of margin trading for cryptocurrencies has become popular in recent years thanks to its potential for significant returns. Platforms such as BitMEX have offered massive leverage on margin trading, increasing their appeal to investors globally. But the potential high yield from such investments can also come with downsides, including the temptation to make large, risky investments with borrowed funds.
According to the report, the new rules will allow Japan to more closely monitor exchanges in a concerted effort to better protect consumers. Exchanges that offer margin trading and those that issue tokens through Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) would be separated and regulated differently, for instance. The hope is that this categorization will enable the FSA to clamp down on scam investment opportunities, while also providing a healthy environment for the crypto industry to continue its growth.
For some time now, Japan’s reputation as a crypto haven has been growing, thanks to its seemingly progressive stance on digital currencies.
In October 2018, the FSA approved the Japan Virtual Currency Exchange Association (JVCEA), a self-regulatory body that consists of 16 licensed crypto exchange platforms in the country. The group was given the authority to create regulatory guidelines for implementing industry-wide security standards and preventing insider trading.
Prior to the regulator’s approval, the association had proposed a ban on privacy-centric tokens like Monero on crypto exchanges. It also mulled over the idea of holding government bonds to insure cryptocurrencies.
This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.
The Tokyo District Court has found Mark Karpeles, the former head of now-defunct Bitcoin exchange platform Mt. Gox, guilty of record tampering but innocent on other charges related to embezzlement and breach of trust.
Per reports in the Wall Street Journal, the court’s verdict is a massive blow to Japanese prosecutors who have maintained their stance that Karpeles was guilty of embezzlement and breach of trust at Mt. Gox.
The sentence, which was carried out on March 15, will see him serve a suspended sentence of two-and-half years in prison. He can skip jail altogether if he stays on his best behavior.
While prosecutors pushed for a 10-year prison sentence, the court rebuffed some aspects of their claims and handed down a more lenient sentence.
Karpeles was the head of Mt. Gox when the firm applied for bankruptcy protection in 2014, following a security breach, where 850,000 Bitcoin (BTC), worth about 48 billion Yen ($430 million) at the time, was stolen from the exchange’s vaults.
He was subsequently arrested in 2015, following an accusation that he embezzled 341 million Yen (about $3 million) from the accounts of customers.
Per the allegations, he was alleged to have transferred the money from the accounts of the company’s customers directly into his own, using the funds to bankroll a lavish lifestyle.
The transfers were made with the use of his personal computer, then he went a step further, covering his tracks by falsifying the company’s records.
The falsification of records was a major bone of contention for the court. In its ruling, the court pointed out that by falisfying records, Karpeles acted beyond the limits of his authority and against the general interests of the company.
Prosecutors took issue with Karpeles’ decision to use a section of the supposedly embezzled funds to purchase a business that deals in 3D printers. However, the court pointed out that the acquisition could be viewed as a potential asset for the company and thus, it was seen as reasonable.
The court also pointed out that Mt. Gox lacked an efficient accounting system for when company executives borrowed money from the company, claiming that this made it impossible to determine whether the supposed funds Karpeles was said to have embezzled were from the company’s clients.
In his remarks, Presiding Judge Tomoyuki Nakayama stated that a data manipulation of this magnitude eroded the credibility of crypto exchanges. Pointing out Karpeles’ position and IT expertise, the judge asserted that there is no justification for such an abuse of information.
While Karpeles seems to have scored a win here, things could still go sour for him.
Earlier this week, a court in Illinois ruled against his attempt to dismiss a class action lawsuit against him and the exchange.
The suit, which was brought up by some victims of the exchange’s hack, was upheld by Judge Gary Feinerman because it was filed within the appropriate jurisdiction; even though the exchange was based in Japan.
The plaintiffs accused Karpeles of painting an untrue picture of the exchange’s stability and security, as well as demonstrating negligence that led to their funds being stolen.
If found guilty, Karpeles could be compelled to make compensation and damages payments.
This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.
Blockstream has launched its satellite messaging application programming interface (API) on mainnet. Essentially, this means users can now broadcast data via the company’s satellite network and pay with Lightning payments.
Blockstream’s satellite service was established with the aim of replacing the Bitcoin network’s dependence on land-based internet connections with actual satellites, thereby putting the network within reach of the world’s population.
According to the blockchain-based startup, the satellite network makes 24-hour broadcasts of the Bitcoin network all over the world, ensuring that the blockchain is protected from interruptions, providing users around the world with the ability to access Bitcoin with the use of a satellite receiver instead of an internet connection.
Developers can use Blockstream’s RESTful API or can submit their messages through the website. Using the website to send messages is quite straightforward. The user has to select the “Broadcast a Transmission” option and upload the file (which could be encrypted, if it’s intended to go to a specific user).
The next step is to bid for a price for transmission. The auction process determines the priority given to your transfer. Per the details on the site, the “minimum bid is 50 mSat/byte. Use the minimum bid price or bid more to give your transmission higher priority in the queue.”
Once a bid is chosen, the system will generate an authentication code and transmission ID, which can be used to “delete or re-prioritize (bump) your transmission in the queue.” Once these details are saved in a secure location, then payment is made via Lightning. Once the Lightning payment is made, the transmission will be queued.
Blockstream’s satellite service was launched back in 2017 with the aim of connecting Bitcoin users, particularly in areas where they struggle with low internet penetration and online freedom.
Upon its launch, the satellite’s focus was on transmitting messages to receivers in Europe, Africa and the Americas. The company further expanded to the Asia-Pacific region in December 2018, while adding support for Lightning network payments.
At the time, Blockstream CEO Adam Back said, “We see the increased robustness of the Bitcoin network and the lower cost of participation contributing to helping businesses rely on the service for backup and for emerging markets to use as their primary access to the Bitcoin network at a lower cost.”
With the Lightning network service, the satellite messaging API will now allow users to send encrypted messages to each other from anywhere on Earth and make payments for receiving those messages.
This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.
Revolut, a mobile finance and payment application based in the U.K., has launched a service that makes it possible for its clients to “auto-exchange” fiat and digital currencies on its platform.
The new feature is intended to make it possible for users to protect themselves against volatilities in the crypto market. Per a company blog post, Revolut users can automatically exchange “fiat currencies, such as the US dollar (USD) to ether (ETH) or bitcoin (BTC), to XRP,” and vice versa, based on a predetermined target rate.
Customers can set it up in simple steps. At the Rates page in the app, you’ll select the currencies, and then define the target price you want to exchange them for. The app takes it up from there.
As soon as the current exchange rates match the target, the app will make the exchange automatically. If the prevailing exchange rate doesn’t hit the target price, however, there won’t be a conversion.
However, Revolut also warned of one caveat: Due to the probability of high exchange rate fluctuations, it is possible for achieved rates to differ slightly from the target rates.
“Just remember we can’t guarantee that you’ll receive the rate you request, but we’ll try to get the price as close to your target as we can.“
Generally, the rule is that whenever there’s high market volatility, no trade will be executed once the exchange rate skews more than 0.75 percent and 5 percent on either side of your target rate for fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies respectively.
In addition to that, the feature has a daily exchange cap. Customers can only make fiat exchanges that don’t exceed €10,000 (approximately $11,198 USD) to digital assets daily. Also, customers can make no more than 30 auto-exchange transactions on the platform per day.
So far there is a limited number of currencies available for conversion. The auto-exchange feature supports fiat currencies USD, EUR and GBP, and three digital assets: bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH) and ripple (XRP).
Revolut started offering trading services for cryptocurrencies back in July 2017. Then in 2018, the company drew comparisons with American trading platform Robinhood when it announced the imminent arrival of commission-free stock trading on its platform.
The feature is expected to be released later this year.
This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.
Most cyberattacks in the crypto space involve hackers finding a way around the security of crypto exchange platforms and gaining access to users’ funds. Last year saw the entry of a new breed of cyber extortionists that seems to be gaining ground, so much so that they were able to steal over $300,000 in bitcoin (BTC) tokens in 2018.
According to a report by research and risk assessment firm Digital Shadows, this scam was committed through a wide array of “sextortion” blackmail strategies, which included the weaponization of emails.
The report, which was titled “A Tale of Epic Extortions: How Cybercriminals Monetize Our Online Exposure,” revealed that the scam started back in 2017. However, it only gained mainstream notoriety in the middle of 2018, after its list of victims continued to grow.
Digital Shadows was able to track over 792,000 targeted emails, where it discovered the loss of about $300,000 worth of bitcoin, which was stolen from over 3,000 bitcoin wallet addresses.
The goal of the cybercriminals is to convince the victim that their system had been hacked, allowing them to obtain valuable information that could expose their intimate activities.
To look convincing, the extortionists provide the victim with a known password, also known as “proof” of compromise — this is meant to offer evidence of the hack. Then they claim to have footage of the victim watching porn online, urging them to pay a ransom in bitcoin or risk exposure.
As with most email scams, the composition of the emails is often a problem. Per the report from Digital Shadows, the construction of the email could make the difference between one that gets past a spam filter and the one that doesn’t. Some sophisticated criminals go to great lengths to distribute emails at scale by using freshly minted outlook.com addresses.
“Across the emails we collected, there was a variation in the capabilities displayed by the attackers. Certain spammers showed little understanding of how to craft and distribute emails on scale, sending malformed emails that would never make it past a mail server or spam filter,” the report reads.
Based on the examination of their IP addresses, the firm noted that the scam wasn’t localized to a single region. Scammers operated across a wide array of locations, with the highest percentage of the emails being sent from a position in Vietnam (amounting to 8.5 percent of the total emails sent); 5.3 percent of the emails were sent from somewhere in Brazil and India came third with 4.7 percent of the total email count.
The cybercriminals targeted individuals with high net worth, as they believe these groups could easily pay the ransom without “dragging the process for too long.”
The scammers also targeted married individuals. The criminals often use marriage as extra leverage over the victims, providing an additional incentive to convince the victim to make the payment.
The Dark Overlord (TDO), a prominent extortionist group which, after a brief break, returned in 2018 with a new modus operandi, was featured in the report.
The criminal group changed its model from extorting victims directly to selling “stolen data in batches to other users on criminal forums, and adopted an altogether more unusual tactic: online crowdfunding campaigns.” Using online crowdfunding campaigns, extortionist groups like TDO can raise the ransom the victim would have paid from members of the public desperate to unlock the troves of data in their possession.
The extortionist group reportedly started its career selling data on TheRealDeal, a forum on the dark web. When the forum folded, they went on a spree of extortions, including directly contacting their victims and threatening to expose their private information if their demands weren’t met.
TDO kept providing regular updates of their operations via their Twitter page. The group went back to the dark web in September 2018, recruiting extra accomplices and selling their acquired data on KickAss, another criminal forum. They set up The Dark Overlord Sales, a subsection of KickAss, to sell their data to other parties on the platform.
The cybercriminals victims included insurance provider Hiscox, which lost over 10GB of sensitive data related to the 9/11 bombings to the group. Their operation pattern shows the effectiveness of using crowdfunding platforms to gain more publicity online, while also generating sustainable revenue.
This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.
According to an official statement published on February 25, 2019, Bitfinex has revealed that the United States government returned 27.7 BTC (worth about $105,000 USD) to the exchange, as part of restitution for …
An IBM executive is unfazed by the current market realities, saying he sees Bitcoin (BTC) reaching a value of $1 million as a present possibility.Jesse Lund, vice president of Blockchain and Digital Currencies at…
According to a recent statement made by Ohio’s state treasurer, so far, only two businesses have filed their taxes in crypto using the state’s crypto tax payment scheme.
Speaking at a forum organized by the Ohio State Associated Press on February 19, 2019,Robert Sprague fielded questions about the department’s experiences with the newly launched bitcoin payment option for taxes, which was set up by his predecessor Josh Mandel in December 2018. Sprague, who assumed his position a little over a month ago, states that the country has received only two tax payments so far on the state’s official crypto payment platform, OhioCrypto.com
In addition, he said, “We’re reviewing how [the program] might be either curtailed or might be expanded, and what our counter-party risk is with that vendor.”
However, a spokesperson declined to offer specific details concerning the exact value the state has received in bitcoin-paid taxes, claiming that such tax-related information is covered by financial confidentiality.
Still, the slow rate of usage won’t deter the state, whose lawmakers are hoping to become a major hub for the blockchain industry.
As stated earlier, the new tax payment system was established by Josh Mandel, who viewed cryptocurrencies as a legitimate form of money.
At the time, Mendel said:
“Our biggest motive here was to give taxpayers more options in paying their taxes,” going further to tell Bloomberg that the state was “proud to do our small part and take this small step to make Ohio the first state in America to enable taxpayers to be able to pay via cryptocurrency.”
According to reports, the filing process for making these payments includes three steps.
The first step is registration. Businesses have to register with the Office of the Ohio Treasurer and set up their accounts on the state’s tax payment platform. From there, they would enter their tax details (including tax period and the payment amount) on the platform, after which time they can pay their taxes with bitcoin from a “compatible” wallet (these include the BRD, Mycelium and the Bitcoin Core client, as well as others “compatible with the Bitcoin Payment Protocol”).
Once made, the payments are processed by BitPay, the Atlanta-based bitcoin payment processing firm. From BitPay, the digital assets are converted into dollars and sent back to the state treasurer’s office as the final step of the process.
This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.
U.S.-based digital asset platform Coinbase has acquired blockchain intelligence startup Neutrino. The company made the news known earlier today, February 19, 2019, but the cost of the acquisition was not disclosed.
The announcement reads:
“Neutrino’s technology is the best we’ve encountered in this space, and it will play an important role in legitimizing crypto, making it safer and more accessible for people all over the world.”
The blockchain startup will analyze data on public blockchains and help prevent theft of funds on Coinbase, investigate ransomware attacks when they come up and identify the culprits using its suite of tools.
Neutrino offers similar services to New York-based Chainalysis, designing and developing tools for monitoring data on the blockchain. Per its website, Neutrino creates custom solutions for “monitoring, analyzing and tracking cryptocurrency flows across multiple blockchains, providing actionable insight on the whole cryptocurrency ecosystem.”
With its analytical capabilities, Neutrino will help Coinbase add new features and tokens to the platform, while ensuring “compliance with local laws and regulations.”
Beyond analytics, Neutrino claims to have some firepower under its sleeves. The startup has a solution specifically developed for law enforcement agencies dubbed the XFlow nSpect, which allows for total tracking of cryptocurrency movements across multiple blockchains. Per details on its website, Neutrino claims the XFlow can be used to track stolen funds, monitoring their flow from one exchange to another, mixers and other services in real time.
Coinbase says Neutrino will not go through any rebranding efforts. Instead it will continue to operate as an independent entity out of Coinbase’s London office. The exchange sees the acquisition as a step in the right direction for creating an “open financial system.” \
This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.
China-based mining giant Bitmain has announced a new mining rig that uses less power. The hardware mining manufacturer has launched a 7nm application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) processor dubbed the BM1397.
Beyond energy efficiency, the new mining processor promises to achieve faster performance for mining cryptocurrencies that use the SHA256 algorithm for their proof of work (PoW), including Bitcoin and its hard forks.
Like the BM1391 chip that came before it, the BM1397 will be powered by the advanced semiconductor manufacturing technology called the 7nm FinFET process, integrating more than a billion transistors and “optimized for maximum efficiency.”
A statement from Bitmain on its blog reads:
“The new BM1397 chip requires lower power and can offer an energy consumption to computing ratio as low as 30J/TH. This is a 28.6 percent improvement in power efficiency in comparison with Bitmain’s previous 7nm chip, the BM1391.”
Since the market crashed last year, cryptocurrency miners have been shutting down operations across the world as it has become less profitable to mine bitcoin with falling prices and fixed energy costs. Bitmain, which has had operational issues of its own, touts its BM1397 as a solution for miners who want to improve the performance of their mining operations. The new 7nm bitcoin mining processor will feature in Bitmain’s soon-to-be-released Antminer mining rigs — the S1f7 and T17.
Bitmain also unveiled a mining rig for the Equihash algorithm used by privacy-centered crypto Zcash and an Ethereum-focused ASIC miner last year.
At the time, the development of ASIC miners prompted Ethereum’s core developers to agree to implement a new ASIC-blocking algorithm, programmatic proof of work (ProgPoW), which restricts the mining hardware on the network.
Security lead of the Ethereum Foundation, Martin Holst Swende, had noted at the time that implementing the code change would hasten the network’s eventual transition to a proof-of-stake algorithm, where ether is mined by staking coins, not by burning energy.
This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.
Yet another journey to launch a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) has begun.According to a published notice, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has begun reviewing a proposed rule change for a bit…
The crypto winter that started toward the end of last year doesn’t appear to be showing signs of slowing down. Digital assets like bitcoin lost more than 80 percent of their value while the overall crypto market cap shrunk from over $600 billion in January 2018 to less than $138 billion in December 2018.
Now, blockchain and cryptocurrency research firm Diar has released a report that reveals a sizeable drop in crypto trade volumes in January 2019 for popular crypto exchanges Binance, Gemini, OKEx and Coinbase.
The report from Diar notes that the plunge in trading volumes affected most crypto exchanges irrespective of their scale.
Malta-based Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange by 24-hour trading volume, endured one of its worst periods in January 2019, where its popular BTC/USD market saw trading volumes fall by over 40 percent in January compared to December where it traded above $5 billion.
U.S.-based Coinbase, which has been on a downtrend since the beginning of last year for its BTC/USD market, saw trading volumes rally above $2 billion in November. However, while December saw figures recede by a small margin, the trading volumes on the exchange fell even further and sat firmly on the $1 billion mark in January.
It is worth noting that January’s trading volume levels for Coinbase are the lowest that the exchange has recorded since May 2017.
Hong Kong-based OKEx had seen its volumes for the BTC/USD market growing from October all through December before plummeting 30 percent from around $5.5 billion to below $4 billion.
Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss’ Gemini exchange also had an underwhelming year with trade volumes falling below $500 million.
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao made an effort to calm fears in November, telling CNBC Africa that business was going well despite the crypto winter. According to Zhao, the exchange was trading one-tenth of the volumes it did in January 2018, but it was still way above what it was trading “two or three years ago.”
Despite the low trading volumes registered on popular crypto exchanges, the number of crypto ATMs installed continued on its ascent despite the market crash. Per data from Coin ATM Radar, there were 149 new Bitcoin ATMs installed across the world in January 2019. The U.S. had a whopping 107 new Bitcoin ATMs installed, while Canada and Spain came in second and third.
This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.
Blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis has completed a $30 million Series B round led by American VC firm Accel and Benchmark, who led the startup’s Series A funding in April 2018. Accel partner Philippe Botteri will also join the firm’s board of directors.
The fund injection will be used to expand the startup’s operations including its Chainalysis Know-Your-Transaction (KYT) tool which allows more than 100 crypto exchanges and financial institutions to vet their clients.
The analytics firm known for investigating the Mt. Gox case will open a new office in London, its second office in Europe, which will serve as a base devoted to research and development.
Chainalysis provides bitcoin transaction analysis to crypto exchanges, law enforcement agencies and other private clients to help them identify illicit transactions on the blockchain. Per a Diar report, Chainalysis was singled out as the preferred blockchain forensics contractor for the U.S. government, receiving $5.3 million from government agencies.
The New York-based startup was founded in 2014, and it has now raised $47.6 million, suggesting that investors are still investing in crypto businesses despite the slump in prices.
Speaking with Fortune, Chainalysis CEO Michael Gronager said the company’s target audience had seen a gradual shift from what it was a year ago. According to Gronager, the company made the bulk of its money from law enforcement agencies — approximately 90 percent of its revenue — which has fallen to 40 percent. Corporate clients now make up the lion’s share of its revenue streams.
One reason for this is the rise of stablecoins which has continued to prop up an industry that has been hit by the longest bear market in its history. Chainalysis has been benefiting from the fast-rising stablecoin sector, whose adoption grew based on the increasing number of on-chain transactions.
“Born out of the ashes of this was the stablecoin as another way to easily and safely create tokens. This ability to trade U.S. dollars against crypto is very powerful,” Gronager noted in the interview.
According to Gronager, the firm hasn’t turned in a profit, but it has grown three times since its Series A.
While Chainalysis is quite visible in the crypto analysis sector, Elementus is a competitor that is gradually making a name for itself. The analytics firm was pivotal in reporting the actual figures stolen in the Cryptopia hack.
This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.
The UnionBank of the Philippines, one of the leading financial institutions in the country, has launched a two-way bitcoin automated teller machine (ATM), according to a story in local media outlet Philstar.
This is the country’s second crypto ATM that provides users with the ability to sell and purchase digital assets like bitcoin for pesos, the country’s official currency. The country’s first bitcoin machine was installed in Manila by BitCoiniacs in 2015.
The UnionBank has reportedly collaborated with the Filipino Central Bank, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
UnionBank, the country’s seventh largest bank told Philstar, “In the bank’s continued quest to cater to the evolving needs and tastes of customers, including clients who use virtual currency, the ATM will provide these clients an alternative channel to convert their pesos to virtual currency and vice versa.”
So far, the bank hasn’t mentioned its intention to deploy more ATMs in the future, but it will be monitoring the usage and performance of the ATM, which could impact what it does next.
In a country where about 77 percent of the population doesn’t have a bank account, crypto bridges the gap and creates inclusion for financial services.
Coins.ph, a leading crypto exchange in the country, celebrated the onboarding of 5 million Filipinos on its platform in May 2018.
Another reason why crypto is so prevalent in the Philippines is remittances, which make up 10 percent of its GDP. The country is the third largest remittance receiving country in the world. For Filipinos overseas, cryptocurrencies offer a cheaper way of sending money to relatives at home.
For a country that is proactive with crypto regulations and was among the first nations to recognize it as an asset class, the deployment of regulated crypto ATMs could foster mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies, build investor confidence and help develop the local cryptocurrency sector.
This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.
“Investing in stocks can be a daunting, complex and decidedly exclusionary activity,” says Bill Barhydt, Abra’s CEO. To that end, his company’s mobile cryptocurrency wallet app has announced a new feature which will allow investors to purchase traditional stocks using bitcoin. The new feature is built into the existing Abra app that enables users to buy and sell cryptocurrencies.
Crypto investors in the 155 countries where Abra has its presence will be able to invest in traditional stocks, such as Apple or Amazon, as well as in exchange traded funds (ETFs), using both cryptocurrencies and fiat directly from their mobile app.
According to Barhydt, everyone should have access to capital markets, regardless of where they live in the world or the amount of capital they have at their disposal. This is where Bitcoin comes in.
The world’s most popular cryptocurrency has shown its capacity to serve as a democratic form of money by creating an open financial system, and he believes his company’s app could change how smaller investors access publicly traded companies and other securities.
“We are building Bitcoin-backed investing products because, for the first time, we can truly democratize access to investment opportunities at global scale. It shouldn’t matter where you live or how much you earn to be able to make investments and participate in capital markets. We’re excited to allow anyone to start investing in global equity products and take control over their savings.”
Cryptocurrency exchanges have been offering features that allow traders to do more than buy and sell crypto of late. Last year, social trading platform eToro launched a mobile trading app that will enable investors to invest in fiat currencies, stocks and cryptocurrencies.
“Abra is different by offering this on a global scale,” Barhydt pointed out, in correspondence with Bitcoin Magazine. He said that the Abra app makes it easy for investors to make fractional investments in stocks, commodities, ETFs and indexes.
“These are not tokenized securities,” he added. “We are not creating an ERC 20 chain. All investments in stocks, ETFs, indexes, etc., are collateralized by bitcoin.”
The new feature will leverage Abra’s Crypto Collateralized Contracts (C3s), a model that allows an investor to convert their bitcoin into different investment options, without having to move money from one wallet to another. The C3s act rather like a stablecoin whose value can be pegged with a reliable price feed to the value of bitcoin.
For every security purchased on Abra, the investor enters into an investment contract, a multi-sig smart contract based on P2SH scripts on the Bitcoin blockchain, which automatically determines whether or not an investor has made money based on the price of the asset. For instance, if an investor wants to purchase $200 worth of Amazon shares, he will place $200 worth of bitcoin into a contract and the movement of the stock’s price will determine the addition or subtraction of bitcoin from the contract.
According to Barhydt, Abra takes all the risk here, which it hedges in the open market, the instant a user creates the investment.
Barhydt also touts the broad crypto and fiat offerings on Abra as a unique selling point, as well as its non-custodial nature — so users hold the fate of their funds in their hands.
“Abra does not collect, store, or have access to its users’ funds. So individual users hold their private keys in the Abra app on their smartphone,” Barhydt said.
For investors who register for the early access program, Abra is offering zero trading fees, with a $5 minimum investment.
This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.
Blockchain firm Bitfury will develop a bitcoin mining center in Paraguay. The new mining operation is in partnership with Seoul-based research and development firm Commons Foundation.
The collaboration is backed by the government of Paraguay, whose goal is to make the South American country a cryptocurrency mining hub.
The new center, which is a part of Commons Foundation’s “Golden Goose” project, will help to facilitate the innovation of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies across Spanish-speaking countries. Bitfury will provide product and technical support for the project.
The facilities used for the implementation of the mining center will sit on about 200,000 square meters of real estate, and it will be powered by two hydroelectric power plants — Itaipu, one of the largest power plants in South America, and the Yacyreta power plant. Paraguay is known for its supply of cheap and available electricity. At one point, the country generated so much hydropower its factories could barely absorb them, forcing the state to sell the surplus units to neighboring countries at below-market rates.
The Golden Goose project is backed by both the government and tax authorities of Paraguay. The mining operations being developed will also benefit from tax relief, an incentive added to encouraging bitcoin mining operations in the country.
The site will also be powered by BlackBox AC, a mobile data center owned by Bitfury. The data center provides an amalgamation of efficient design and low cost, which is expected to provide for more effective and affordable bitcoin mining.
John Mercurio, chief communications officer at Bitfury, told Bitcoin Magazine that Bitfury’s mobile data centers have the capacity needed to operate a bitcoin mining center at scale.
“Bitfury’s BlockBox AC mobile data centers have the capabilities of a full-size bitcoin mining datacenter, making this the ideal solution for mining bitcoin on a large scale with ease. The efficient design and low operating cost of the BlockBox AC datacenter make bitcoin mining more productive and affordable, and allow for the easy expansion of bitcoin datacenter sites.”
The project was also lauded by Sandra Vera, a Paraguay-based attorney who acts as legal counsel to the Commons Foundation. According to Vera, the exploration of emerging digital technologies is a priority of the government of Paraguay, and an alliance with innovative and technologically progressive companies is sure to provide a wide array of economic benefits for the country as well.
The total number of mining centers to be opened under this project will be determined by Commons, as the firm is expected to provide further details as time goes on.
“We are looking forward to our project in Paraguay with the Commons Foundation, and we believe that this site, powered by Bitfury’s innovative hardware, will help decentralize and further secure the Bitcoin Blockchain for its users,” Mercurio added.
This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.
According to a recent report, Joel Ortiz, the 20-year-old student from Boston who was indicted by prosecutors in Santa Clara, California, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison in what is believed to be the very first SIM swapping conviction in the United States.
Ortiz was charged last year on 28 counts involving various computer-related violations and crimes concerning information law. Ortiz took control of the identities of over 20 people, stealing a total of $5 million in cryptocurrencies with his SIM swapping technique. He pleaded guilty and accepted the plea deal of 10 years jail time.
SIM swapping is a technique that involves a criminal contacting the service provider of a target victim. The hacker will then use personal information acquired about a potential target to persuade the service provider to effect a phone number transfer from the current SIM card to one owned by the hacker. As soon as the swap has been executed, the hacker can request sensitive information including verification codes, one-time passwords and two-factor authentication entries, which are usually sent to a user’s mobile phone as part of a successful porting process. SIM swappers are known to target high-security online domains such as social media accounts, email addresses, bank accounts and cryptocurrency wallets.
Various SIM swapping cases have been reported lately, including Dawson Bakies, a tech-savvy criminal who used the same technique to make off with thousands of dollars in cryptocurrencies from over 50 victims across the U.S.
Per a press release from the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, Bakies has been charged by a grand jury in the state of New York, and he currently faces a 52-count charge, including computer tampering, grand larceny, and identity theft. Bakies pleaded not guilty to the charges leveled against him, and he was subsequently released on a $100,000 bail.
Last year, American crypto investor and businessman Michael Terpin sued AT&T for $233.8 million over fraud and gross negligence on the part of the service provider which resulted in a SIM swapping operation that cost him millions of dollars in digital assets.
Three million tokens were stolen from Terpin’s crypto account, with a total worth of $23 million, at the time. He is also seeking an additional $200 million in punitive damages.
This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.
U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange platform Kraken has completed the largest transaction in its history after it made its foray into the futures trading world with the acquisition of London-based Crypto Facilities.
Jesse Powell, chief executive officer of Kraken, stated, “I’m thrilled to welcome the Crypto Facilities team into the Kraken family. Over the coming months, our teams will continue to enhance and expand these offerings. We’ve got great stuff in store for traders and institutional clients in 2019.”
Kraken reports that it paid “nine figures” for Crypto Facilities, a company that lists futures of digital assets including bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), litecoin (LTC) and ripple (XRP). The exchange will also acquire Crypto Facilities’ index business as part of the deal, which makes Kraken one of the first crypto exchanges to offer both spot and future trading in cryptocurrencies.
Powell told Bitcoin Magazine via email that the platform is now open to non-U.S. users, enabling them to trade futures from their Kraken accounts. He added that there are no plans to add support for U.S. customers at the moment.
Crypto Facilities will be rebranded to Kraken Futures going forward, but it will continue to operate out of the U.K., “benefiting from the regulatory oversight of the Financial Conduct Authority, one of the world’s most forward-looking and innovation-focused regulators, and reflecting Kraken’s commitment to the UK as the leading financial and cryptocurrency hub in Europe.”
Kraken isn’t the only U.S. cryptocurrency exchange that has made moves to increase its reach and expand across the borders of the United States. In October 2018, crypto exchange Bittrex launched an overseas division of its trading platform, which afforded it the opportunity to segregate its U.S. users to provide more digital tokens to foreign markets.
Among other benefits, potential markets provide many opportunities for expansion, as the growth of most exchanges has been stifled by the patchwork regulatory landscape of the American crypto market.
This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.
Binance has finally joined the fiat-on-ramp party, adding support for crypto purchases using credit cards. This is made possible through its integration with payment processor Simplex, according to a press releas…
Cryptocurrency exchange Zebpay is opening new offices in five European countries, increasing its presence on the continent to 26 countries.
Launched in 2011 in India, Zebpay grew into one of the country’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges before shuttering its operation in September 2018, due to the crypto ban in the country. Now, the exchange operates out of Singapore, and today’s expansion will make it available for users in Spain, Romania, Slovakia, Liechtenstein and Lithuania.
The exchange is also running a European trading competition which will debut today, February 1, 2019. The tournament will be used by the crypto platform to identify and reward expert traders in Europe. In part, the competition is a cheers to Zebpay’s expansion, but the self-proclaimed “new member of the European crypto community” said it’s also in a bid “to build a relationship with the crypto trading community and show why over 3 million consumers worldwide trust and enjoy using Zebpay.”
Ajeet Khurana, CEO of Zebpay, spoke with Bitcoin Magazine about the expansion. He said, “As we continue to expand into new territories, we want to build strong relationships with crypto communities, enthusiasts and traders in existing ecosystems. Our platform is battle tested with millions of users (many of whom are new to the space) with incident free handling of billions worth of assets. We can’t wait to see how the new countries that we’ve expanded to interact with our platform.”
“As on today we serve most of the EU countries and have also started accepting customers from across the globe including South America and Asia,” he added.
The trading competition will be open to all European countries where Zebpay’s services are available, including the five countries that are now available today.
“The goal of this competition is to encourage healthy competition amongst traders and for new traders to get a taste of the Zebpay platform,” Khurana told Bitcoin Magazine.
The exchange will select 50 participants randomly to compete in a trading challenge. Each participant will get €1,000 to trade with on the platform for 30 days. There will be a public leaderboard, where traders can monitor their progress on the platform and a 24/7 support team will be available to help participants every step of the way.
At the end of the competition, the top 10 traders will keep the balance in their account. Those who don’t make the cut will get a reward of €100 for participating in the tournament.
This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.
On January 26, 2019, clients of peer-to-peer bitcoin trading service LocalBitcoins were the targets of a phishing scam which resulted in the theft of a handful of bitcoins.The Scam’s OperationReports claimed that…
Cryptocurrency mobile wallet provider BRD wants to accelerate its international expansion, and it has secured $15 million to do it. The Series B funding round was raised from SBI Crypto Investment, a subsidiary of Japanese financial giant SBI Holdings.
BRD will use the funds to scale its operations into the Asian market.
“It’s very gratifying to see such a significant financial institution as SBI validating BRD’s technology and business model through a strategic investment during an otherwise difficult time for the industry, and we believe it’s precisely these attributes about BRD which set us apart and position us for significant growth this year and beyond,” said Adam Traidman, CEO and co-founder of BRD.
“We started BRD in 2015, shortly after Bitcoin had its first run up and then biggest crash to date. Not an easy time to start a new company, but we raised our seed round successfully while other companies were struggling to survive. And here now in 2019, with crypto markets once again in their worst downturn to date, we’ve completed our Series B.”
Traidman said Asian users currently use debit and credit cards to make payments on the platform. BRD’s expansion into the region means that cheaper payment options like local bank transfers would be enabled soon.
“The net result is more convenience, lower fees and overall better user experience for new and existing crypto investors. Further, we are engaged in new business models with large financial institutions in Japan and beyond, to leverage BRD’s platform for B2B and B2B2C products and services,” Traidman explained.
BRD also inked a deal with European cryptocurrency payment provider Coinify, a move that would allow EU residents to make bitcoin purchases in a low-cost medium using SEPA transfers on the app.
Spencer Chen, BRD’s VP of global marketing, told Bitcoin Magazine that the new payment option marks a first for EU residents on the platform.
BRD hasn’t always secured capital in fiat currencies. About one-third of BRD’s seed funding was raised in bitcoin, back when BTC was trading around $250. Their Series A was a combination of crypto and fiat. Traidman said the company still holds most of their tokens as part of their corporate treasury.
“We routinely rebalance our fiat and crypto holdings to adhere to our treasury policy which is designed to balance corporate cash flow needs with the ability to take advantage of long term crypto market trends. As you can imagine, we are long on crypto overall.”
While last year remains a year to forget for most cryptocurrency companies, it isn’t so for BRD. The startup seems to have had a milestone year, per its release. It claims to have recorded a 116 percent year-over-year growth on the total installed base for its mobile app, with a total of 1.8 million installations globally.
What’s more surprising is its Q4 results, with the startup claiming to have signed up 400,000 new users during the period.
While BRD didn’t release how many transactions were initiated during the same period, the startup seems to have generated quite a number of interests during crypto’s darkest hour.
Beyond the positive metrics, Chen believes the downturn in the market gave BRD insight into their audience.
“It affected our business most with the shift that we saw regarding where the source demand for crypto was originating from. In 2017, we experienced a huge influx of consumers buying bitcoin and crypto for the first time. In 2018, it started shifting to more trading of existing crypto assets, which is more indicative of usage of established crypto enthusiasts and long-time holders. It was crucial that we continue to ‘read the room’ if you will, especially around consumers new to crypto.”
This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.
BloqLabs has opened up the beta waitlist for Titan, a fully integrated software suite for managing cryptocurrency mining. The project was introduced by Bloq CEO and co-founder Jeff Garzik onstage during a brief speech at Binance Fair in Singapore in an overview discussion of BloqLabs.
Cryptocurrency mining can be profitable but optimizing and managing devices manually can be a pain-point for miners. From tweaking the power limit of the GPU to fixing the downtime problem at the moment it happens, these are just some of the difficulties crypto miners have to contend with when mining cryptocurrencies.
In an email correspondence with Bitcoin Magazine, principal blockchain engineer at Bloq and CEO of Titan, Ryan Condron, said Titan is the result of years of developing tools to manage their company’s mining farms. Along with Titan’s CTO, Kyle Howlett, the team believes they have found a way to help businesses maximize their ROI on mining.
“In the process of developing tools to manage our mining farms, we’ve gotten very good at fingerprinting various types of mining devices once they are plugged into a network,” said Condron. “Then, given our understanding of what makes these devices function optimally, we’ve written ways to interface with the device’s firmware. Pull all of that into a single interface, and you have a very powerful tool.”
The Titan software is free to download, and it can be installed and set up immediately on a network of mining devices. Once configured, the developer said Titan would balance the entire mining variables needed to deliver maximum profitability to the miner.
“This means adjusting for mining difficulty, coin prices, electricity costs, and so on. And, yes, it learns as it goes,” Condron explained.
Coupled with machine learning capabilities, Condron claims Titan can increase or decrease the hash power of mining farms by double digits, if configured correctly.
One way is by overclocking the GPU, where the internal clock rate is increased so that the chip can run faster. According to Condron, Titan can also leverage other factors like “maximizing uptime across the entire mining farm, temperature (internal and external) optimization, and smart electricity throttling” to optimize the mining devices.
The crypto market downturn has dragged with it some heavyweights of the crypto mining sector. One such example is China-based mining giant Bitmain, who has whittled down its activities across the world, shutting down several of its overseas offices and restructuring its operations. This unsettled mining environment could pose a conundrum for Titan, whose product is coming at a time when the mining morale is low. Condron, however, sees an opportunity.
“Titan has a powerful value proposition for miners who have scaled down their operations during the market downturn. Titan will help them ensure they are mining the most profitable coin, as well as maximize the useful life of their capital equipment and manage both fixed (e.g., headcount) and variable (e.g., electricity) operational costs,” he explained.
Titan’s beta version is targeted at a specific market of miners — medium– to large-scale miners who still rely on a manual process to manage the performance of their mining equipment.
The current software can work with devices that mine bitcoin, litecoin, ether, zcash, dash and monero. Additional crypto tokens should be rolled out before the beta release. The Titan software suite of products will be free to use, but Titan will receive a percentage of the proceeds derived from Titan-optimized hashrates.
This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.